Carnival in Pathfinder

[The Giamarga]

Mort, did you get Tosk's timeline from Mangrums? Cause I just made mine up. And they do match!

The Abber is tricky.

Tindal was always a stage magician to me, with some permanent wondrous item props. Now the fetch part is the hard one to convert...

[Mortavius]

They are one year out from each other, but otherwise they're good, and yep, I got it from Mangrum's timeline.

[The Giamarga]

I meant the birth, and thus his age. I must say I do prefer your version too. I got too hung up on the gimmick and with his alignment of LN the barbarian version won't work. I even changed it in the settlements thread.

I like that he's a non typical orc even though statwise he is. And his age (soon to be old) fits right in there.

[Mortavius]

Nah, Mangrum's timeline only has when he entered Ravenloft on it. I guessed his birth based on how old I wanted him to be when he joined Carnival and the Orc age ranges presented in Advanced Race guide.

I'm glad you like Tosk; I like him as a Fighter as well. Although the Orc Barbarian is an archetype almost to itself (it seems) I think he works well as a Fighter. I also wonder how if anything will change with him becoming older and such so much quicker than the rest of the Troupers.

[The Giamarga]

Well he'll still be quite strong and tough , though his strength will be in reach of others , so maybe another trouper will take over the Strongman act. What new act could he take up then? He'll be a bit clumsy.

And hell become bit more mellow I think, with his mental scores approaching human median and shedding his negative modifiers. Maybe he'll even change his alignment (again?) to TN or LG(?) coming a bit closer to Isolde's ideal?

He'll still be a fearsome fighter, all the more because of his devotion to Isolde. Speaking of which in the Carnival supplement he gains a morale bonus if fighting for Isolde iirc. Any ideas how to incorporate this?

[The Giamarga]

I just retread the Savage Warrior archetype. Not sure if it fits him, though with its focus on natural weapons.

Also you listed weapon training (axes) +1 which the archetype switches out. I'd make him a plain fighter. If he gained lvl 9 give him training in unarmed/natural.

[Cam]

What new act could he take up then?

I like your observation about Tosk mellowing as he ages. I could see three possibilities:

1) He's still the strongman. He might weaken a bit as he ages, but nobody is going to want to cause conflict with him by trying to inch in on his specialty.

2) There's a new strongman in town, who Tosk recognizes as his equal. So the two form a two-man act. The two strongest men you'll ever see, for the price of one! A bargain at half the price, George.

3) He thinks Isolde is a goddess, right? If he mellows as he ages, he might become reflective enough to seek out more knowledge about her goals, origin, and ambitions. I could see him saving up enough gold until he can afford to have a seer or fortune teller give him some insights. What would happen if he actually found out some of the truth? He'd probably try to help her catch her adversary. I could see him slipping off on his own some night, following up on a clue about where the Gentleman Caller can be found, trying to win favor with Isolde. Of course the Gentleman Caller would be one step ahead of him, and would likely imprison him or trap him or worse. Isolde or Hermos might have to send the PCs to try to find him, and they'd better hurry, because the Carnival needs to leave town with or without Tosk the next day.

[Cam]

... I guess # 3 isn't really a "new act." Just more of a plot hook. I think his "act" if you go that route is no act at all. He starts paying less and less attention to his strongman duties as he focuses more and more on learning about Isolde. Once he does learn a kernel of the truth, he focuses on doing her some great service (which is doomed to backfire on him, because her adversary is way smarter than Tosk).

[Mortavius]

It's been awhile since I've done an update here, so here's some stuff.

First, thanks for pointing out Sean's theory on NPC leveling. I like it, and I have decided to adapt it to the NPCs here. As a result, Hermos got two extra Expert levels, and Claude got an extra Expert level too. I have already revised their stat blocks. Also cleaned up Claude's skill list; I found some errors I had made, and he was missing a feat too. Also fixed the error on Tosk's stats; thanks again Giamarga.

Cam, I like your ideas on Tosk and how he develops, I think that could be some great adventure hooks with him.

The Illuminated Man will be going up shortly.

[Mortavius]

The Illuminated Man

Timeline
715 BC: The Illuminated Man born in the Nightmare Lands.
745 BC: Carnival picks up the Illuminated Man while passing through Arbora.
760 BC: Present Day.

Twisting: The Illuminated Man always wanted to be noticed and be with people. His study of the Nightmare Lands caused his people to abandon him. The Twisting took his desire to be noticed, and caused his skin to change colors, in strange random patterns. This is quite off-putting to others, so the Illuminated Man has taken to covering his body with tattoos. Although this is more acceptable in the confines of Carnival, he still draws attention, in an almost supernatural manner, wherever he goes.

Base Stats
Str 10, Dex 13, Con 8, Int 13, Wis 16, Cha 10
Racial: +2 Cha
Leveling: +1 Cha
Aging: Middle Aged
Favored Class: +Skill Ranks

760 BC (Current day stats)
CR 6; XP 2,400
Human (Abber) Oracle 6
Neutral Medium Humanoid (Human)
Init +1; Senses Perception +5

Defense
AC 11, touch 11, flat-footed 10 (+1 Dex)
HP 18 (6d8-12)
Fort +0, Ref +3, Will +10

Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee +3 Phantom Touch (victim Shaken for 3 rounds; 5/day)
Spells Known (CL 6th, Ancestor Mystery; DC 12 + spell level)
3rd (3/day) – Bestow Curse, Cure Serious Wounds, Heroism
2nd (6/day) – Calm Emotions, Cure Moderate Wounds, Disfiguring Touch, Spiritual Weapon (Spear)
1st (7/day) – Cause Fear, Cure Light Wounds, Doom, Dream Feast, Endure Elements, Haze of Dreams
0th – Create Water, Detect Poison, Guidance, Light, Mending, Purify Food & Drink, Resistance

Statistics
Str 9, Dex 12, Con 7, Int 14, Wis 17, Cha 14
Base Atk +4, CMB +3, CMD 14
Feats: Alertness, Craft Wondrous Item, Iron Will, Scribe Scroll, Skill Focus (Craft, Tattooing)
Skills: Craft (Tattooing) +14, Heal +12, Knowledge (Arcana) +11, Knowledge (Geography) +11, Knowledge (Nature) +11, Perform (Act) +8, Sense Motive +14, Spellcraft +11
Languages, Abber*, Mordentish (doesn’t speak), Vassi (doesn’t speak)
SQ Oracle Curse (Selective Mute), Revelations (Phantom Touch, Wisdom of the Ancestors [as Divination spell, 90% effective])

Equipment (almost always kept in vardo)
Spear +1, Leather Armor +1 (fashioned from the hide of a nightmare creature), Wand of Mending (12 charges), Potion of Cure Light Wounds, Travellers Clothes

Oracle Curse (Selective Mute): The Illuminated Man suffers from a variant and weaker form of an Oracle Curse. He can only speak his native language, Abber. This communication prevention also applies to writing; anything he tries to write in another language comes out as gibberish on the page. This restriction even carries over to magical effects; spells such as Share Language fail, and any magic items that would allow others to understand him fail. For his own part though, he can understand and learn other languages, even if he cannot speak them.



So I spent a lot of time thinking about this one. I looked up the various Tattoo magic character classes, prestige classes, and feats out there for Pathfinder. But none of them seemed to fit. I thought about making him an Expert, but he is described as an Abber Shaman in Carnival. Comparing to the Abber Shaman described in the Nightmare Lands box set, he actually seems to be a typical member of those beings (loners and exiles and such). And although Carnival says that he cannot cast spells, I chose to ignore that restriction. I prefer to imagine that he rarely, if ever, casts spells.

I imagine that the Illuminated Man has found a unique way to combine his skill of Craft (Tattooing) and his feats of Craft Wondrous Item and Scribe Scroll to allow him to bind Night Terrors in the form of tattoos. I also gave him a unique Oracle curse to reflect the fact that he never speaks any other languages, but can understand others.

[The Giamarga]

I like oracle for him and including spellcasting. But oracle casting is CHA based. So either switch the stats or make him wisbased somehow (alas theres no archetype for it yet, but IMHO the enlightened philosopher should switch to wis based casting. It totally fits. Or we could design a new abber shaman oracle archetype...). Or you know, no spellcasting. I feel that generally the CHA scores in Carnival have to be taken with a grain of salt as they seem to incorporate OR.

I would have given him either a custom tattoo feat/rules or a custom spell and one of rite's tattoo feats. The effects of his tattoos are only a conditional +1 bonus to certain fear checks right? Similar to the resistance cantrip. I would certainly get rid of the hp cost. The other effects (shifting tattoos, night terrors that get loose ) need to be worked out though...

BTW There's a semi official mute curse published by paizo in an adventure, an NPC has it but the progression is unknown. You can check the NPC out here.

Glad you like the NPC leveling, it's a pet peeve of mine and I hope you check out the other threads in my post about it. The old ENworld threads are awesome...

I'll have to revisit the altered NPCs...

[Mortavius]

I like oracle for him and including spellcasting. But oracle casting is CHA based. So either switch the stats or make him wisbased somehow (archetype?).

I would have given him either a custom tattoo feat/rules or a custom spell and one of rite's tattoo feats. The effects of his tattoos are only a conditional +1 bonus to certain fear checks right? Similar to the resistance cantrip. I would certainly get rid of the hp cost. The other effects (shifting tattoos, night terrors that get loose ) need to be worked out though...

BTW There's a semi official mute curse published by paizo in an adventure, an NPC has it but the progression is unknown. You can check the NPC out here.

Glad you like the NPC leveling, it's a pet peeve of mine and I hope you check out the other threads in my post about it. The old ENworld threads are awesome...

I'll have to revisit the altered NPCs...

Well, I did come across that when I was making him, and I figured that he's just not that focused on casting spells. The Oracle class seemed to fit him, mainly because the Cleric didn't. Clerics pray to deities and study and such, and that's just not the Illuminated Man. Whereas the Oracle description says they have their abilities forced upon them; that seemed more right. So no, his stats are not great for casting spells...but that's just the way he is? Seemed a good explanation to me, what do you think?

I didn't go too far into the tattoo rules on purpose; I didn't feel like tackling that right away. Just sort of wanted to work out the NPC stats. Plus, I wanted to keep the binding of Night Terrors as something the Illuminated Man has learnt how to do, and perhaps no one else. That's why I kept the idea of how he does it vague and undefined. But by all means, it could be delved into deeper.

Interesting mute curse...but it goes beyond what the Illuminated Man has. Tindal says in Carnival that he has heard the Illuminated Man speak, so he's not actually mute. He just can't speak anything other than Abber. It's weaker than a typical Oracle curse, but I figure these are NPCs; they can break the rules a little. Plus, even though it's a weaker curse, it doesn't really give him any benefit either, like a standard Oracle curse.

Also, I don't like how Cha scores are handled in Carnival. I much prefer a system where certain skills have a penalty or benefit based upon an outcast rating system of some kind. Rather than hitting a base stat with a penalty, it makes more sense just to say they have penalties with social skills like Bluff, Diplomacy, etc. After all, a Sorcerer with an Outcast Rating of some kind doesn't get worse at casting spells just cause other folks don't like him; he just has a hard time dealing with them in social situations.

It was a fine rule at the time for that system, when there was no character that used Charisma as a prime stat (not even Bards) and the entire stat itself was used in a much more abstract form in 2E. But Charisma is codified a lot more and more versatile a stat in PF, so I figure the previous rules need to give and be changed some.

[Mortavius]

Silessa, the Snake Mistress

Timeline
732 BC: Sarlandril the wizard calls a familiar in Sithicus and gains an asp that he names Silessa.
737 BC: Tindafalus meets Sarlandril and Silessa, now changed into a humanoid form by Sarlandril.
745 BC: Tindal convinces Carnival to rescue Silessa from Sarlandril’s control.
760 BC: Present Day.

Twisting: The Twisting is bringing out Silessa’s serpent origins in the form of her venom.

Base Stats
Str 2, Dex 17, Con 8, Int 9, Wis 13, Cha 2
Leveling: +1 Int
Create Faux Henchman Spell: +6 Str, -2 Dex, +4 Cha
Favored Class: +HP

760 BC (Current day stats)
CR 3; XP 800
Pseudo-familiar Expert 5
Chaotic Good Medium Magical Beast
Init +2; Senses Low-Light Vision, Scent, Perception +11

Defense
AC 17, touch 12, flat-footed 15 (+2 Dex, +4 Natural, +1 Armor)
HP 36 (6d8-1; treated as having 8 HD for effects relating to HD)
Fort +2, Ref +7 (Improved Evasion), Will +11

Offense
Speed 30 ft., Climb 20 ft., Swim 20 ft.
Melee MW Dagger +10 (1d4-1, 19-20) and Bite +4 (1d2-1 plus poison) or Bite +9 (1d2-1 plus poison)
Ranged Poison Spit -1 (poison; attack modifier includes -10 called shot penalty)

Statistics
Str 8, Dex 15, Con 8, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 6
Base Atk +7, CMB +6, CMD 18
Feats: Animal Affinity, Lightning Reflexes, Skill Focus (Perform), Weapon Finesse
Skills: Climb +8, Handle Animal +6, Knowledge (Arcana) +8, Knowledge (Nature) +6, Perception +11, Perform (Dance) +7, Sense Motive +7, Spellcraft +8, Stealth +8, Swim +8
Racial Modifiers: +4 Perception, +4 Stealth
Languages Sithican, Reptile

Equipment (often hidden and incorporated into her stage costume)
Masterwork Dagger, Bracers of Armor +1, Potion of Eagle’s Splendor

Poison (Ex): Bite – injury; Fort DC 11, frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d2 Con; cure 1 save
Poison Spit (Ex): Silessa can attempt to spit poison at an enemy’s eyes; to do so, she must make a called shot to the eyes with a -10 penalty (as described in Ultimate Combat). Success inflicts the poison on the victim, as well as all the effects of a called shot to the eyes, as described in Ultimate Combat. A failure means no effect; her poison is only effective if delivered through her bite or directly into the eyes. She can spit like this up to three times a day; poison delivered through her bite has no such limitation.



Silessa was an interesting NPC to create. First, I took the stats of a viper from the Bestiary. Then I layered the Familiar modifications overtop. Then I layered on the modifications from Create Faux Henchman. And finally, I calculated her age and worked out that she should have five levels of Expert and added those changes in. The result is what you see above.

Because of her creation and the uniqueness of her character, she has some stats that the rules can't quite account for. Her BAB for example is much higher than her class level; this is because Familiars gain their master's BAB. There are a few other rule interactions like that, notably in her saving throws. Overall I don't see it as too overpowering.

Some of the most noticeable changes from her presentation in Carnival is her base stats. Her Charisma is very low compared to the previous score of 17, but I actually like it this way. Physical appearance is only one of a number of factors involved in Charisma in PF. I'm perfectly fine saying that Silessa has very attractive female figure, and this is probably accentuated with the salacious outfit she wears on stage. However, her low Charisma actually reflects what she is. She is a snake that had a deep connection to one person and one person only. Reading between the lines in Carnival, it's implied that Sarlandril treated her badly...and exactly how badly, well that's up to individual DM's to determine how dark they want their games to go. Personally, without going into details, I think it was pretty bad indeed. I suspect that Silessa has a bit of a Stockholm syndrome and she just has a hard time relating to other people and grasping societal pressures and nuances. She does her act because she knows she can, and it's something that she's (somewhat) good at. But the deeper meanings behind it might elude her. I imagine her personality as being somewhat cold and detached, as a throw-back to her being a reptile. She has accepted the Troupers and her role with them...but I suspect that she just may never quite become one of them, especially with Sarlandril still being out there, and the two of them still having a connection, however tenuous.

[Ryan Naylor]

The Illuminated Man:

I like it.

For binding Night Terrors, presumably (in game terms), that's the effect of his spells: a properly bound one gives you Heroism or Calm Emotions, whereas an unbound one is Bestow Curse or Doom.

Silessa:

Also good. You can now ignore my comments in the other thread.

[The Giamarga]

To learn or cast a spell, an oracle must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level.
.

So either it's cantrips only or give him higher CHA or an archetype to switch to WIS casting...